New offshore drilling in California is economically infeasible, legally questionable and politically a nonstarter, but if there's any doubt the state's coastal waters could still be opened up to oil and gas interests, the Coastal Commission this week flexed its own authority and said no way.

The Trump administration, inviting a political backlash from coastal state leaders, on Thursday proposed to open for exploration the largest expanse of the nation’s offshore oil and natural gas reserves ever offered to global energy companies, including waters off the coast of California.

President Trump painted a golden future of “great wealth” and “great jobs” powered by oil pumped from the ocean floor as he signed an executive order on Friday to consider new offshore drilling around the country.